


Love and Lies

by TheGreenMeerkat



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Aromantic Asexual Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Asexual Deceit | Janus Sanders, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, In Which Janus Is Gay, Light Angst, M/M, Multi, Other, Queerplatonic Demus, Queerplatonic Relationships, or at least i think it's light
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24466210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreenMeerkat/pseuds/TheGreenMeerkat
Summary: Janus finds that his heart has much more capacity for love than he originally thought. With the support of Remus, his queerplatonic partner, he decides it's time to go after that love.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Deceit | Janus/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton (Sanders Sides), Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders
Comments: 11
Kudos: 60





	Love and Lies

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally writing this as a one-shot, but things got a bit long so instead it'll be six short chapters!
> 
> Warnings for cussing and typical Remus talk

“Remus?” He creaked open the door to The Duke’s room with care, knowing Remus could be doing a number of horrifying things. He was used to it, of course, but this conversation made him… more hesitant than usual.

Fortunately, he wasn’t doing anything that would warrant worry - unfortunately, Janus had woken him up from a rather cozy-looking nap. “...Janny?”

“Apologies. I didn’t mean to-”

“Deedee!” Remus sprang from his bed as fast as he could, running up to Janus and greeting him with a tight hug. “I haven’t seen you all day! Haven’t been hiding from me now, have you?”

“Of course not.” He wasn’t sure if he was lying or not, not that it mattered; Remus wasn’t as skilled as recognizing Deceit’s lies as Virgil was.

Remus kept his arms around Janus’s shoulders as he backed away and, as always, gave the snake a genuine smile. It always managed to cheer him up, at least a little. “Good! You wanna join me in some napping and cuddles?”

“Uh, in a bit, maybe.” As much as cuddling up with his queer-platonic partner sounded amazing at that very moment, there were much more important matters at hand. “Actually, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Oh. Oh!” Remus lightened up with a look of realization, before giving Janus a sly smirk. “I know what this is about.”

“Do you, now?” he responded with squinted eyes and a furrowed brow.

In turn, The Duke simply grabbed his gloved hands and dragged him to the side of his bed to sit down. The whole situation was making Janus’s nerves spike up in a rare occurrence. He had no idea what Remus was about to say, but it surely wouldn’t be-

“So you want to fuck my brother.”

“Wha- Christ, Remus!” If he was drinking anything, he would have surely choked on it. Instead, he lightly pushes Remus down on the bed. “Yes, because  _ my _ asexual ass wants to, as you put,  _ ‘fuck’ _ anyone!”

The Duke giggled and sat up on his elbows. “I know, I know, I just wanted to get a reaction out of you. You’re so tense!” He moved to sit up completely, wrapping one arm around Deceit’s waist. “The point is, you  _ are _ in love with my brother. And Virgil and Patton and Logan but  _ I’m _ more interested in how you fell in love with my  _ brother, _ of all people!”

“I- well I wouldn’t say in love, necessarily- uh…” Remus responded to his stutters with a cross of the arms and a raise of his brow, unconvinced and unimpressed. “How did you even know?”

“The same way I knew you wanted to be closer with me. Different kind of close, of course, but same principle.” He flopped down back on the bed with hands resting behind his head. “You’re not as subtle as you think you are, Double Dee.”

Janus buried his face into his gloves and groaned. “What am I supposed to do, Reem?”

“I don’t know, kidnap them? Bury them alive and pretend they never existed? I don’t know why you’re trying to ask  _ me _ for love advice.”

“Who else am I supposed to ask?!” He groaned once again and flopped down next to Remus. He felt absolutely pathetic, falling in love with all of them. They may be okay having him around now, but how could they ever…? “Is it too late to take you up on that cuddling offer?”

“Aww, c’mere Janny.” Remus adjusted himself against his pillows, opening up his arms for Janus to fall into them. He took the offer without hesitation and sighed into his partner’s chest. “Y’know,” he twirled a strand of hair on top of Deceit’s head, his hat discarded to the side. “Roman always smiles when I mention you.  _ I _ think he’s quite fond of you.”

Janus moved his chin up to look Remus in the eyes. “Even if that were true, which I highly doubt, that’s only one out of four.” While he’d be pleasantly surprised to have even one of them like him back, he’d rather be with none of them than not all of them. “You seem to be dwelling on Roman a lot. Are you not…?”

“Oh, no no no, I just find it hilarious. No one expects the dragon to fall in love with the prince, do they?” The dark side moved one of his hands to scratch at his neck. “Well, it was admittedly weird at first, but I got over it pretty quickly- Anyway, What makes you think the other three can’t like you too? Morality  _ adores _ you!”

He huffed and rolled his eyes. Besides Roman, Remus still often called the other sides by their titles. He could only assume it was to keep a level of distance, which saddened Janus just a bit. “Patton ‘adores’ you as well now. Are you going to go around claiming he’s in love with you?”

Remus immediately grimaced at the claim. “Can’t exactly argue with that one, though I  _ do _ think it’s quite different. What about-”

“Don’t even try to argue that Logan would like me. We are constantly butting heads.”

“So did him and Roman, and now they’re probably butting  _ something else _ right at this moment!” Janus gave him a furrowed brow, a look of ‘ _ what the fuck does that even mean, Remus,’ _ which only managed to make him chuckle.

He sighed and buried his head back into his QPP’s chest. “And that leaves one.”

“...Right.” He just barely catches Remus’s mumble, feeling his body stiffen just slightly. “He… I mean, you two are good now, right? He forgave you.” That one hurt the most. Remus avoided using  _ any _ names or titles for Virgil, instead opting to just refer to him in pronouns only. Calling him by his name would hurt Remus, but calling him by his title would hurt Virgil.

“Theoretically, yes.” The anxious side had even apologized to him; even though Janus had hurt him first (and had continued to do so), he admitted he might have been overly harsh to him as well. Janus appreciated it, but he also didn’t agree with the notion that Virgil needed to apologize in the first place. “But I could never expect him to trust me.”

There was a pause, before Remus settled his chin into Janus’s hair. “There was always something special between you two.” There was a sting in Deceit’s heart at those words. They weren’t close in the traditional sense, but… they looked out for each other. And Janus ruined that. “I don’t think that ever really left.”

“And when did you become such an optimist?”

The Duke gave a gasp of fake offense. “Me? An optimist? Why, I’d never!” At Janus’s chuckle in response, he gave a quick ruffle to his hair. “I just know anyone would be a fool not to love you. I can’t say if it will be the way you want it or not, but they  _ will _ love you.”

From the bottom of his heart, he wanted to believe that. He was all too familiar with not getting what he wanted, and the others loving him as a friend would be more than he could ever ask for, but even that was just too good to be true. He wasn’t supposed to get a happy ending - but, then again, that’s exactly what he fights for every day. He breaks the code and  _ forces _ what Thomas wants. Why couldn’t he do the same for himself?

He couldn’t force someone to love him, but he can  _ fight _ for it. He can try.

“...Thank you, Remus. You are okay with this, right? If anything were to actually happen between them and me, I mean.”

“Of course! None of my business what you do with that snake tongue of yours.” Before Deceit could express his distaste, he noticed Remus’s form tensing up once again, his face looking uncharacteristically sheepish. “Just, uh… If they’re not okay with us--”

“You’re my first priority,” he interrupted him. “I was with you first.”

Remus moved to rub at his neck, a sad sort of smile on his face. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way of your love life like that. That wouldn’t be fair of me.”

“Bullshit.” Janus couldn’t believe he would ever suggest such a thing. All Remus ever wanted was to be heard and cared for, yet he was willing to let that all go for him. He’d never allow that to happen. “You are a  _ part _ of my love life, Remus. It isn’t romantic, but it isn’t any lesser, either. You really think I’d throw you away like that?”

He was happy to see Remus’s smile turn genuine, but he didn’t have much time to think about that fact as he was tackled back into a hug. “No, I was just testing you.”

“I can tell when you lie, Reem.”

“And  _ I _ can turn your scales into exposed tissue, but I’m choosing to hug you instead.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: @green-writes-sanderssides  
> Comment if you enjoyed please! It'll help me write quicker.


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